Dynamite Makeup Duo Colors It Wild

Her nails are painted green--a parrot-and-kelly hybrid similar to the color that`s tossed into the Chicago River to make those murky waters more festive on St. Patrick`s Day.

The tips of her nails are rimmed in Cat Black.

Her white lips are outlined with Dynamite Red.

But the nails and lips are mild compared to her incredibly green eyes, which are embellished by a snakelike drawing in chalky white and jet black.

This is no daughter of Lauder, no apostle of Arden, no child of Chanel.

This is Karen Barone, one half of the team that creates Barone cosmetics, one of the most wildly colored lines of powders, paints and polishes sold in this country. She is a tiny woman with a mane of crimped hair, a red leather bra and a bare middle right in the center of a fancy Michigan Avenue store, enjoying being on display with her partner-husband, Tony, an ebullient man who finishes every sentence with a cackling, rippling laugh.

Until eight years ago, the Barones were Chicagoans--she as flamboyant then as now--known for designing unusual restaurant interiors. Their gem was Tango. Now, as owners of a multi-million-dollar business, they were back in their hometown to introduce their cosmetics at Stanley Korshak.

If they have their way, the store and its shoppers will never be quite the same. They want those women to poke around their shiny black counter, dip their brushes into some pearlized Purple Passion powder, check out the silvery gray lipstick or sample some Blue Neon Snake Eyes, just the way Cyndi Lauper does when she shops at the Barone boutique in New York`s SoHo.

They are like gospel preachers with a message: Women should drop their inhibitions about makeup and enjoy a little adventure with color.

``Women can be very powerful with our colors,`` Karen says ever so blithely, not seeming to realize that she`s had a little skirmish with understatement. ``Or women can be very soft. It`s up to the individual. . . .``

``. . . to decide the way she wants to look,`` says Tony, who tends to complete Karen`s sentences. ``We simply provide art supplies for the face.``

Among those so-called art supplies are nail polishes in 36 colors, including Taxi Yellow, Blue Midnight and Wild Cactus--the green that`s featured in March Vogue--and Dynamite Red, their best seller. They have a liquid eye makeup called Snake Eyes and a powder called Dragon Eyes.

Their new colors for spring range from apricot to plum with pearlized finishes; they`re ``spring puffs.`` Then there are ``titillating tints,`` such as Marshmallow Yellow, Naughty Aqua, Whisper Pink. Among the Cezanne Colors for the cheeks are Rowdy Rose and Wicked Coral, and contouring shades for the cheeks include Savage Turquoise and Paradise Orchid. There are lip liners, lipsticks, lip glosses in reds and pinks and oranges; but there are also lip shades in black and blue and yellow and one that`s called Vicious Violet. The average price for most cosmetic items is $9.50.

Soon they`ll be releasing their first skin-care product, a moisturizer called Sundaes for the Face. It will be packaged in ice-cream pint cartons

``to stress the creaminess,`` according to Tony, ``and every pint will read

`Handpacked by Jackie` or by someone--just like Vala`s ice cream. We want to show how much care we take with our products. Others call this kind of sensitivity to an item quality control. We call it care.``

They also put what Tony calls ``a lot of ceremony`` into their packaging. Lipstick containers resemble firecrackers (``because they`re too dynamite for an ordinary box,`` says Tony); lipstick and eyeliner pencils have color-coded feathers at the tops (``because it feels so fantastic to have that extra flourish,`` says Karen).

The Barones create their colors, produce their products and design their packaging in rural Limestone, Tenn., ``Davey Crockett`s birthplace and a place that`s perfect to drydock,`` says Tony. ``It`s also a great place to keep horses,`` Karen says. ``We sure couldn`t keep them in a loft in SoHo.``

When the Barones first left Chicago for New York, they opened a store for ``sybaritic necessities,`` including offbeat makeup. Gradually, the makeup took over as they developed their own products. They`ve had their makeup company for five years and have sold to such customers as Lena Horne, Diane Keaton (lipsticks), Twiggy and Tommy Tune (Snake Eyes) and Dallas` Linda Gray. About three years ago, tons of additional New Yorkers became customers when their makeup became available at Bloomingdale`s and Macy`s. The Barones recently opened a second shop in Bal Harbour, Fla. Their products are also sold in Bloomingdale`s store in Dallas and in a Tokyo shopping center and by June will be available in four more Japanese locations.

Now, they say, ``the timing is right`` for their cosmetics to be sold in Chicago. ``We`re ready, and so are the women here,`` according to Tony. ``This line is meant for a customer who is well traveled and adventurous. The woman we`re aiming to please is the one who needs an edge, who can`t be seen in what everybody else is wearing.

``She wants to be ahead of things. She doesn`t have to want to look like Karen. She just has to want to be individual.``